SARW recommends that the DRC and Zambia Cobalt Marketing draw inspiration from the diamond sales systems used by SADC
The NGO Southern African Resources Wacht (SARW) has in a recently published policy brief entitled “Harmonization of lithium battery manufacturing policies in Southern Africa: collaboration between the DRC and Zambia”, recommended to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to draw inspiration from the marketing systems used by the SADC countries, in their implementation of the joint marketing of cobalt.
On the sidelines of ongoing discussions between the DRC and Zambia on a possible collaboration for the exploitation and marketing of their strategic minerals, namely cobalt and copper, the South African NGO SAW has indicated avenues that could serve as a guide. to these two countries.
“Given the dominant share of two countries in the world reserves and production of copper and cobalt and the strong international demand for these two products, the two countries should establish methods of cooperation, in particular for the marketing of cobalt, in order to stabilize prices and facilitate the growth of local links (inputs and manufacturing). The effectiveness of the diamond marketing systems used by several SADC states (such as Botswana and Namibia) could serve as a guide in this regard,” they recommended in this policy brief.
According to SARW, this marketing will be twofold, to allow the maintenance of the balance between supply and demand but also the stabilization of prices.
“A two-tier marketing system should be considered, in which the first cobalt auction would be reserved for companies that have accepted a plan for the development of mining inputs and beneficiation at the local level. Cobalt that did not find a buyer in the first auction would then be available for a second open auction. The auctions could come with a participation fee to help fund the cobalt stockpile to maintain the balance between supply and demand and stabilize prices,” they explained.
Moreover, in this project the two countries could benefit from the “joint development of profitable trade routes in the copperbelt”, and thus cover their logistical problems “for the entry and exit of mining products”, in this regard, SARW recommends that the DRC and Zambia jointly develop a “logistics study of the copperbelt to identify logistical bottlenecks and propose solutions”.
Furthermore, SARW believed that these two countries can “genuinely benefit” from this collaboration which aims to optimize “the development impacts arising from the exploitation of their unique copperbelt resources”. This NGO hopes that these recommendations will constitute a starting point for collaboration between these two countries, better serve to “enlighten SADC on the need to harmonize its policies and ensure better regional integration for the benefits of all in the region,” they concluded.
